Bar Seeks Feedback on Court's Draft Revisions to Rules of Professional Conduct

Bar Seeks Feedback on Court's Draft Revisions to Rules of
Professional Conduct

At its May 2 meeting, the State Bar Board of Governors approved
creating an Ethics 2000 Review Committee to respond to the Wisconsin
Supreme Court's draft revisions to SCR Chapter 20, the Rules of
Professional Conduct for Wisconsin Attorneys. Then-State Bar President
D. Michael Guerin appointed the review committee, which is soliciting
member feedback and will make recommendations to the board at its July
21 meeting.

Background

The Wisconsin Supreme Court issued an interim order on March 15,
2006, that contained proposed changes to SCR Chapter 20, known as the
Rules of Professional Conduct for Wisconsin Attorneys (Rules). The
supreme court issued the initial draft after reviewing a report from the
Wisconsin Ethics 2000 Committee that recommended several changes to the
Rules. The supreme court appointed the Wisconsin Ethics 2000 Committee
to review the work product of the ABA Ethics 2000 Commission and to make
recommendations to the court on whether, and to what extent, to update
the Rules of Professional Conduct in Wisconsin.

The supreme court has held several open administrative conferences
during which justices reviewed and debated the committee's recommended
changes as well as recommendations from the State Bar and other
organizations concerning the proposed changes. The end product from the
open administrative conferences is a first draft of Rule changes that
will become effective sometime in 2007. Lawyers can review the draft at
www.wisbar.org/ethics2000.

The supreme court may issue revisions to the draft later this summer.
Any additional changes the court might propose are not anticipated to be
significant; however, a second draft may include justices' dissents to
items discussed in the proposed Rule changes. The proposed Rule changes
then will be presented to the State Bar and other organizations for
further comment. The court will address the comments at an open
conference in late August with a deadline of issuing a final order with
the Rule changes in September.

Comment by July 19

Interested parties are invited to submit written comments to the
State Bar by July 19. Comments can be emailed to
ethics-feedback@wisbar.org, faxed to (608) 257-5502, or mailed to State
Bar of Wisconsin, P.O. Box 7158, Madison, WI 53707-7158.

The Bar will share that feedback with the court, which will reconvene
in September to consider final language changes, issue its final order,
and determine whether the new rules will be effective on Jan. 1, 2007,
or July 1, 2007.